some other Beltane fests I found on the web

This one is from Glastonbury, UK

This is one from Ulster County, NY

and included a maypole dance in addition to the bonfire dance.

This is meant to be a continuation of my other two posts, Beltane Favorites and A Beltane Party, 2014.

Our party had many more drummers (with some professionals in the mix) than either of these two events.   

A great way to celebrate spring!

A Beltane Party, 2014

Beltane Fire Dancer

2014

In the last post, I mentioned some of the artists on my private Facebook page that celebrate Beltane and make Beltane-related art. If you are new to my blog see the previous post HERE. 

Do you wonder what a Beltane festival or party is? Go here to the Wikipedia article on it. In short, it is a Gaelic festival about the arrival of Spring typically celebrated on May Day (or a weekend before or after, for those who work M - F). 

Since I know a lot of people who love to celebrate these events, I get invited to a lot Beltane rituals, parties and art-happenings. The fire dancer above was at one of the ones I attended. You can't see her costume, but she wore boots, a mini skirt with bright metallic-like spangles and a headdress with horns. There were at least 10 drummers there to keep her on beat. At this particular event there were about four fire dancers and one fire-eater.

Some people showed up in costume: there were women with a bouquet of flowers around their head, other folks with horns and leaves on their heads and heavily tattooed, some were wearing the Celtic tree of Life somewhere on their person, some re-enactors came with full body chainmaille and impressive ornate swords, some people came with Irish capes and some people didn't dress up at all. In other years I have gone, some people showed up with Green Man masks and regalia and some came with faerie costuming. I was disappointed they weren't there this time. This year there were more tee-shirts, jeans and beer than other years, possibly because there were a lot of young rock bands in the barn on the property (or maybe it was the cold night: who wants to cover up a nice costume with blankets or a coat?).

Some Beltane festivals have Maypole dancing as well, but that kind of event usually takes place in the day time. It also features women with long dresses and flowers in their hair as this picture will confirm. I have also done quite a bit of Maypole dancing throughout the years to celebrate Beltane.

Almost all of the Beltane festivals I have been to feature a bonfire where people dance to drums. For these pictures, these bonfires had just been lit, so there were no dancers yet. There were 3 bonfires in all. A large medieval-like catapult was used to throw a minimal fire into a large pile of wood (i.e. to light the bonfire). 

Here are some pictures of the bonfires:

I liked this photo of a boy in profile:

Here are some more pictures of the fire dancers:

Beltane is also about sitting around fire pits, socializing (the picture is blurry because it was after sundown, a few minutes before the sky turned pitch black):

It is also about eating, drinking and being merry. In this case I was more interested in what was going on behind the people eating, which is why they aren't particularly featured:

Which brings me to a situation where more explanation is probably due. This Beltane party was held at a friend's studio (and grounds). He is a sculptor and there are sculptures everywhere, on everything imaginable. I'd love to tell you who made all of these beautiful pieces (and he very much deserves the credit), but since they are on his private property, I won't, but it makes for an even more enchanting Beltane experience.   

Here is one of his sculptures that has been offered a beer by some of the guests in the background (again, it was taken after sundown, so it is amazing I got any photo at all):

Here is one of the roads (this particular road led to the party, which is why there are lanterns placed along it). In the dark, the lanterns illuminate the faces of the sculptures. It is really a cool effect when you're tired and you are stumbling your way back to your car. Every road should be lined with sculptures to help you on your journey through life:

Some of the statues along that road:

Here is gypsy-type caravan he made complete with a relief sculpture above the door:

Even the wood-stacking shelter gets some sculpture:

How about a tree? Super fuzzy photo -- but you get the idea...

Even a cart that he made gets the treatment:

Here is another one of his carts (just because I liked it). One of his sculptures you can see in the background of the photo:

Here is one last one I took (before I couldn't take any more pictures of anything except fire):

Perhaps another year I can get some Beltane photos that aren't challenged by a quickly setting sun!

I hope you've enjoyed going down Beltane lane with me.

Beltane favorites

Olde Beltane Photo

by unknown

I know so many artists and musician friends who celebrate Beltane. On Facebook, many (or maybe even most) of my musician and artist friends were posting Beltane paintings and photos on May 1 and inviting me to their Beltane festivals and parties. I browsed through them and decided to post some of my more favorites here on my blog (in the interest of you getting to know them too).

I responded the most to the one above. It looks like an old photo and the arms of one practically turn to wings through the time exposure. This one was posted by Laurie Ann Haus, a truly amazing vocalist with an incredible range who does a combination of metal, Celtic and classical, somewhat reminiscent of Trans Siberian Orchestra. We found each other's music many, many years ago on Myspace and have been friends ever since.

Here are some others from my Facebook friends that you might enjoy:

    Merry Beltane by Paulina Cassidy

I got to know Paulina's delightful work through Enchanted Folk, a community of artists and musicians. She has produced many tarot and oracle decks, all fun and charming here on Amazon. 

 Beltane by Sue Miller

I became aware of Sue Miller through her brother Tom Pacheco who records CDs at the same recording studio where I record (with Scott Petito). We travel in so many of the same circles and I constantly see her work on many of the on-line magazines I subscribe to. 

Hand painted Beltane alterpiece by Linda Ravenscroft

As with Paulina Cassidy, I also got to know Linda through the Enchanted Folk community. She has published a number of books and sells them through A.C. Moore and other craft stores as well as through Amazon here.

photo of Beth Chapin Reineke, recording artist and assistant recording engineer at Scott Petito Productions (also mentioned above).

I've always loved this photo of Beth. And the dragon approves!

I hope you've enjoyed this! 

I'll be getting back to my work as a fantasy artist soon!

commemorative art: for Robert F. Winne

Robert F. Winne commemorative art

© 2014

completed on the one year anniversary of his death

center design by Robert F. Winne

complimentary border design by Lise Winne

My father always loved pattern. He was an architect, but made lots of little doodles. This is one that I responded to and thought I would use for a commemorative piece. It is a rare color doodle (he tended to work in pen and ink because he was color blind). It is interesting that he included red and green in this design since he often couldn't tell them apart. 

His doodles focused on pattern and shapes and they tended to be symmetrical (unusual for a man since women tend more towards symmetry in their art than men do).

When I was younger, particularly in highschool, my art was mostly abstract art and some of it looked quite a lot like his. Perhaps I will share it some day. But then after getting the "sculpture bug" after going to a lecture and slide show on Kathe Kollwitz when I was 18 years old, I decided that I wanted to make visceral art instead, in the Kollwitz tradition, pieces that made statements, had meaning, spoke about things that mattered. It went with my Quaker background too (causes). I did make quite a lot of it (never published on the web) until about 1998 or so, when I decided to compliment my Renaissance CD, "Wingd With Hopes" with fantasy related art and music. Now I have gone back to "Expressionist" art and illustrations for a little while until I complete a few "assignments". Then I'll be back here. Promise.

I hope this border design is like a big hug to my dad. I think he would have liked it? He tended to like bold pattern.

I started a blog about my father HERE. The table of contents is on the right hand side. Unfortunately I haven't been able to put as much time into it as I would have liked. That's another story...   

two kinds of hearts, two kinds of love

THE CHOICE IS YOURS

all artwork © Lise Winne, 2014

As we get close to Valentine's Day, what kind of relationship do you have?

Apologies to my readers for having gone missing for eight months. I have been at work on an intense art project, of which these two artworks are a very small part of it. I haven't been making any fantasy/Celtic/Renaissance related art, so I decided not to post here until I got back on track (which I thought would happen sooner than it has). The lovey-dovey couple above is the only piece that even comes close to fantasy art (the kind of art I have been known for in the last couple of decades) -- and that is even more of a cartoon than anything I have posted on this blog so far.

There are still angels in my latest line of work if only hidden to get a broader message out. Perhaps I will reveal what that message is at some point, but for now, I wish all of my readers a happy Valentine's Day and remember what makes a relationship grow and prosper: mutual respect, having an equal voice, companionship, compassion, empathy, devotion and honesty.

When we develop care and concern by thinking of others not as ‘them’ but ‘us’, there is no room for bullying, exploitation or deceit. ~~  Dalai Lama

Thank you for your continued support.

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A Unicorn in Moonlight

A Unicorn in Moonlight
© 2013

original 5" x 7" drawing

(available for sale HERE)

If you have an Etsy account, you can also check HERE to see if it is available on the Etsy venue.

(copyright watermarks do not appear in the actual work of art)

Background on this piece:

- This is an original (not a print). It is drawn with fine points.

- It is drawn with india ink and artist grade colored pencils.

- This is part of a new series which can be found HERE (read from bottom to top to see the first to latest in the series). This is the fourth in the series and is the largest one to date (though I'll probably be making others soon and getting larger as I go!). The previous ones were tiny  at 2.5" x 3.5".

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Large Ceramic Angel Pendant

Large Ceramic Angel Pendant

reversible

wheel thrown stoneware, fired at cone 10

(available for sale HERE)

This is how it looks on its side:

This is the angel on the other side:

These pieces are part of a series. This is the third in the series.

I started these pieces as a way to use clay that I trim off when I am throwing pots (the pots also have these kinds of angels in them). Since I like a packed kiln, I wanted miniature pieces to fit around the pottery. These worked nicely for that! They save fuel, they save clay, they offer an unusual product (I hope!) and maybe they even bless the kiln and its contents (?).

I hope you've enjoyed my latest offering.

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